2008.04.02 19:00 - Many Degrees of Freedom

Table of contents

No headers

During the evening session there were again five of us. We started right away talking about our exploration, Friedrich first:

Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, is everyone here practicing the 1% path?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (i’m not. sloppily undisciplined)
Pema Pera: what have you done so far, Friedrich, have you tried it at least once?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i compromised.
Pema Pera: how?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i tried pausing once an hour today, and working on selecting my mneumonic bell
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: thinking about elevators
Pema Pera: and what happened?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, of course i forgot a few times. but it was great remembering.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i also concentrated much more on my breating today. like, while walking
Pema Pera: can you describe in raw terms — without explanation or interpretation — what came up and how?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: so, i was jolted back into remembering to breath.
Pema Pera: not easy….
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: while breating
Pema Pera: a very good thing
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: pause, hold, i counted
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i count and clear. or try to
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i felt my lower back. lumbar area
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: imagined my organs stretching. felt great
Pema Pera: it’s good to get back into the body
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i didn’t try writing yet. want to find a good rythm first

And then Doug:

doug Sosa: Since I am new to this, I noticed that when I
stopped doing what i wasdoing to “play” the solid world got a little
floaty.
doug Sosa: I notice that here is SL that doesn’t happen. the solidness
of objects in real life has to be renewed I discovered, but not here,
the computer graphics takes over that activity.
doug Sosa: By “floaty” i mean that when i stop focusing, the surrounding world is not as “solid” as I expected.
doug Sosa: In real life.
Pema Pera: you mean when you are doing the 9-sec practice in SL?
doug Sosa: when i was doing the 9 sec in real life it floats. here is sl the objects do not.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: doug - objects in the surrounding world, or your activities and intentions, or what?
doug Sosa: objects. So i raise my eyes from the desk and my focus and
notice that the surrounding world is amazingly alive and fluid.
Dakini Rhode: interesting doug! the SL objects aren’t real, just pictures of objects
doug Sosa: Yes, but tey are generated by a linear favoring system. the real world is not.
Dakini Rhode: not really alive apparently
doug Sosa: That the desk is solid is an attribution. if i go into the 9 sec, that attribution stops
doug Sosa: Here in SL that attribution is part of the way the image is created for us.
Dakini Rhode: yes
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, arguably your perceptual system is doing an incredible amount of interpretation in both cases
doug Sosa: But it seems like less here in SL because the SL graphics do some of that work.
doug Sosa: I think that in RL i am continually attributing solidness
but not aware that I am. In the 9 sec I became aware, because it wasn’t
happening.
doug Sosa: So SL is more like the attributed solid without my having to
do the attribution. Of course there is still some, like that the
computer is solid. But if i cut through that the visiual world of SL
seems more “solid” than the visual world of RL.
Pema Pera: interesting!
doug Sosa: Now that I am thinking, the world of SL is true mecchanical classical perspective, but the real world is not.
doug Sosa: For example,
doug Sosa: the beams in this room appear to converge, period. but in
the real world they also converge behind us, so there is a transition
zone where they are bending, so to speak. I know some about this
because i found myself having to think about it in a painting I wa
doing of a narrow kitchen.
doug Sosa: If I painted the lines as staight, the kitchen where I was standing was getting too wide.

I found it fascinating to realize how many ways there are to approach our exploration:

Pema Pera: Doug, a very important point you brought up is this:
Pema Pera: when logged into SL, you have at least two very different ways to do the 9-sec practice
Pema Pera: 1) you can stop what you’re doing in SL and look around within SL
Pema Pera: 2) or look around with RL
Pema Pera: interesting to experiment with both!
Pema Pera: Perhaps there are other combinations . . .
doug Sosa: the point is that in RL the stabilized world is an attribution, but here it is given to us by the software.
Pema Pera: like even playing with camera for a while and then for 9 sec coming back to your avatar - or the other way arond!
Pema Pera: always interesting to explore extra degrees of freedom
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or shifting to other applications/windows on your screen…
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but not leaving your screen
Pema Pera: yes, indeed, Friedrich
Pema Pera: a nice extra possibility!
Pema Pera: I had not occurred to me how many there are!

We ended with some introductions:

Pema Pera: Doug, can you say a couple sentences about who you are?
doug Sosa: sure. psychoanalyst, consiultant, , currently finishing a
book on gardening the world., live on the russian river, california
Pema Pera: I met Doug at a conference on virtual worlds at Stanford in August and we hit it right off.
Pema Pera: Dakini is leading the daily zen meditation next door, Doug,
and she has built this tea house which she graciously let me use
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: thanks!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its beautiful
Pema Pera: every day 6 pm SLT twenty minutes sitting
doug Sosa: I am very grateful.
Dakini Rhode: I’m honored…
doug Sosa: I am leaving in the morning for costa rica for ten days. i will take this place with me in my imagination.
Pema Pera: you’re welcome to join, Doug and Friedrich! Doug, as a
psychologist it will be specially interesting to sit here with a group
of others, I’m sure
Pema Pera: Friedrich do you want to introduce yourself in a sentence or so?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: gosh, tonight? I am a nyc native and resident, a
software architect working in educational tech, and a doctoral student
in communications
Pema Pera: thaks, Friedrich
Pema Pera: and thank you all for coming here
Pema Pera: and especially Dakini for making all this possible!
Dakini Rhode: i took a snapshot to demonstrate that meditation is possible in SL
Dakini Rhode: Or at least what looks like meditation
Friedrich Ochsenhorn smiles
Pema Pera: It was so nice to sit there sometimes with fuzzies and all kind of strange critters all seriously sitting
Pema Pera: felt very tender somehow
doug Sosa: it is dark, can we find our way home?
Pema Pera: ;>)
Dakini Rhode: it feels very intimate sometimes
Pema Pera: yes, often I feel that way
Dakini Rhode: but you never know what’s happening on the other side of the screen
Pema Pera: true
Dakini Rhode: I do sit with you all tho
Pema Pera: but in RL too
Pema Pera: what’ s happening in people’s mind
Dakini Rhode: very true
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: though, here you can light up your world, while it is dark for others
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i thought that was really odd
Dakini Rhode: RL imitates SL
Pema Pera: deeply so, Dakini
doug Sosa: this seems more quickly intimate that RL
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: talking to strangers much easier too
Dakini Rhode: some people find that to be true
Dakini Rhode: for them - is it not projection, though?
Pema Pera: many sides to that question
Pema Pera: yes and no I think simultaneously
Pema Pera: in some cases at least
Pema Pera: big topic
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i postulate it makes a difference if you have ever met in person in RL, too
doug Sosa: it is THE topic
Pema Pera: carnival mardigras masked ball — it all has centuries and more of history
Pema Pera: ways to step back in order to step in more in some way
Pema Pera: share what is normally behind fences
Pema Pera: complex
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, quite difficult to explain to others too…
Pema Pera: impossible without showing and experiencing
Dakini Rhode: very
Dakini Rhode: and, not everyone gets it
Pema Pera: well, I gotta go,
Pema Pera: thank you so much for joining us all here!
Pema Pera: feel free to stay of course
Dakini Rhode: thank YOU Pema
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: later. g’night, pema
Pema Pera: — who am I to speak –
Pema Pera: — it’s Dakini’s place — lol
Pema Pera: good night all, and have a safe trip Dakini!
Dakini Rhode: Pema, for this, it’s YOUR place
Dakini Rhode: or i should say, it’s OUR place
Dakini Rhode: this retreat is entirely public
Pema Pera: yes, it is our place
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: aw well. tnx dakini.